In recent years, an intermediate provider that is called a demand response (DR) aggregator is known, which executes control (demand response (DR)) of power to be consumed by users instead of an electric power provider in response to a request to reduce power to be consumed by the users from the electric power provider such as an electric power company or a power product supplier (PPS). As a method for executing the DR by the DR aggregator, there is a method called direct load control (DLC) that is executed to directly control amounts of power to be consumed by apparatuses used by users, for example. The apparatuses to be subjected to the DLC are air-conditioning apparatuses, lighting apparatuses, refrigerating facilities, freezing facilities, in-house generators, and the like, for example. If the DLC is executed on an air-conditioning apparatus in summer, The DR aggregator may increase a set temperature of the air-conditioning apparatus and thereby control the amount of power to be consumed.
As related art, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications Nos. 2003-87969, 2007-129873, and 2012-23816 have been disclosed, for example.
The DR aggregator sets a target amount of a reduction in power to be consumed in response to a request from an electric power provider before (for example, a day before the execution of the DR) executing the DR. Then, the DR aggregator preferably develops a program for executing the DLC in order to achieve the target amount at a high rate.